- National Oilwell Varco (NOV -13.7%) plunges 14% in early trading after posting a big Q4 earnings miss on a 52% Y/Y drop in revenue; the company recorded a $1.52B unadjusted net loss and racked up $1.63B in pre-tax impairment charges.
- CEO Clay Williams says the “lower-for-longer” period of low oil prices eventually will push demand to grow and provide the foundation for an eventual recovery, but NOV is not expecting a recovery in 2016, including a challenging H1 with more reduced revenues.
- NOV's rig systems unit generated revenues of $1B, down 32% Q/Q and 60% Y/Y; rig aftermarket revenues totaled $569M, flat Q/Q and down 33% Y/Y; wellbore technologies produced revenues of $757M, down 9% Q/Q and 50% Y/Y.
- The completion and production solutions unit generated revenues of $746M, down 7% Q/Q and 44% Y/Y; the backlog for capital equipment orders for the unit was $969M at the end of Q4, down 17% from Q3 and down 46% from the year-ago quarter, and new orders during Q4 totaled $272M.
- Tudor Pickering Holt calls the results “much worse than we envisioned,” adding that the “most challenging quarter in some time reflects the harsh reality” of E&P companies slamming the brakes on spending.